Rum-Matcha Tiramisu

To all tiramisu lovers, I’ve got something special for you: a matcha layered tiramisu made with rum infused lady fingers, and served in individual portions for extra decadence!

With Saint Patrick’s Day right around the corner, green is the new black in today’s recipe. Literally. The classic Italian dessert actually replaced its black coffee layer with generous green matcha tea layers instead. The result: a beautiful green and white dessert, all dressed up for the occasion.

You got it, the green here comes from the matcha tea. Have you ever tried matcha tea before? Or maybe matcha tea latte? Some people love it, also for its healthy properties (matcha tea is known for being packed with antioxidants, boosting the metabolism while detoxifying the body), and some people just hate it. Where are you yourself in this scale of appreciation?

Personally, I’ve got an ambivalent appreciation of matcha tea. In a way, I kind of dislike it when served in a latte (funny thing, I happen to drink matcha latte from time to time anyway) but I love it in desserts. A few years ago, I shared with you a matcha layer cake recipe with a vanilla frosting, and that was my first positive experience about matcha tea. More recently, I tried a matcha crème brûlée during my last trip to New York last month and once again, I was blown away by the idea of matcha tea in a dessert.

I think for me, it’s just a matter of sweetness: in a latte it is not sweet enough or not dissolved enough into the milk, whereas in a dessert it is fully incorporated to the preparation together with other ingredients such as fat (cream) and sugar, that help matcha tea to release its flavors beautifully. So, if you belong to the “hate” category of matcha tea, I would advise you to give matcha tea another try with this recipe as you might change your mind as well.

Now about matcha tea itself, the one you will need to use is the matcha tea powder (you could also find matcha capsules or other matcha ready-made drink that comes in bottles). Powdered matcha is the most common one of all them, and also the biggest seller. However, the quality of matcha tea varies widely, and so does the prices. So you need to look at the labels carefully to check the grades. Good news: the one you need here is matcha for cooking – actually for baking – which means you do not necessarily need to choose premium quality and should be able to purchase it at a much more reasonable price. That being said, you could also go for the premium quality if you wish, in particular if you have some at home already.

The second twist to the tiramisu is the use of rum instead of coffee in which we usually soak lady fingers for a classic tiramisu. I like to us aged rum as I find it a little bit tastier, but do as you prefer or depending on what you have at home. You could also use another strong alcohol, such as vodka, Grand Marnier, or why not whiskey. All of them would do the job beautifully too.

Here I layered the tiramisu in green and white layers as I find it much more elegant this way. It takes a little bit of time to assemble the matcha tiramisu but your guests will for sure be impressed. Enjoy cold and still creamy!

To all tiramisu lovers, I've got something special for you: a matcha layered tiramisu made with rum infused lady fingers, and served in individual portions for extra decadence!

Author: Delphine Fortin

Recipe type: Sweet Treats

Yield: 6 glasses

Ingredients

For the mascarpone cream:

3 large egg yolks

⅓ cup (65g) granulated sugar

1 Tbsp (15 ml) white rum

⅓ cup (80 ml) heavy liquid cream

2 8-oz package (500g) mascarpone cheese

1 Tbsp matcha powder + more for dusting

¼ cup (60 ml) hot water

For the matcha syrup:

½ cup (120 ml) water

½ cup (100g) sugar

1 Tbsp matcha powder

2 Tbsp (30 ml) white or aged rum*

To assemble the tiramisu:

15 Italian ladyfingers

Matcha powder, for dusting

Instructions

For the mascarpone filling:

Bring a small pot of water to a simmer. Put the egg yolks, sugar, and rum in a stainless steel bowl that will sit on top of the pot. Continuously whisk all three ingredients together until it thickens, about 5 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes.

In another bowl, whip the heavy cream with a hand mixer until soft peaks form.

Fold the egg mixture to the lightly whipped heavy cream, then add the mascarpone cheese and stir until well combined. Divide the mascarpone cream in two equal parts.

Combine matcha powder with boiling water and stir well. Once cooled, add the matcha syrup to half of the mascarpone cream, keeping the other half plain.

For the matcha syrup:

Bring water and sugar to a boil. Simmer for 3 minutes and remove from heat.

Let cool, then sift in the matcha powder and aged rum. Whisk well.

For assembling the tiramisu:

Dunk each ladyfinger into the syrup. Add the drenched ladyfinger to the bottom of a glass, breaking it into 3 pieces. Add one layer of plain mascarpone cream. Sift in some matcha powder over, and place in the freezer for about 5 minutes. Add a second layer of matcha-mascarpone cream, and freeze for 5 minutes.

Repeat process once more (soaked lady fingers, mascarpone layer, matcha layer), freezing cream layers for 5 minutes in between. Dust the top of the tiramisu with matcha powder and keep refrigerated until ready to serve, about 2-4 hours.